My question is: can Apple Pages import a markdown file such that the imported (and structured) markdown text adopts the Pages document's styles? For example, if the markdown file contains "# Heading 1", that element will take on the appearance of the Pages' "Heading 1" Style.
Next question: If this is not possible at present, does Apple have plans to incorporate this functionality into the next version of Pages?
JayHorton54 wrote:
What I want is to have imported text from Word or Markdown take on the appearance of a Pages stylesheet.
If you are thinking that Pages uses a stylesheet, as would HTML5 apply a CSS3 styling to automatically style opened content, then you can forget about that notion. Pages cannot open Markdown, nor even consume plain text, and magically transform it into styled content. On the otherhand, Pandoc can convert your Markdown into HTML5, and allow you to import a stylesheet of your making to produce a web page that can appear like your Markdown.
Pages is a word processing application and when it opens a Word document, it attempts to translate that content, including inherent styles, into the Pages internal document (.pages) format. There is no assurance that the internal Pages document will be 100% faithful to the original Word document appearance, nor do you have any control over any of the available Pages templates during translation.
Based on your original goal, Pages is not the tool you thought it was and you cannot directly, or indirectly (Pandoc) get Pages to automatically style your Markdown content. Wrong tool.
JayHorton54 wrote:
What I want is to have imported text from Word or Markdown take on the appearance of a Pages stylesheet.
If you are thinking that Pages uses a stylesheet, as would HTML5 apply a CSS3 styling to automatically style opened content, then you can forget about that notion. Pages cannot open Markdown, nor even consume plain text, and magically transform it into styled content. On the otherhand, Pandoc can convert your Markdown into HTML5, and allow you to import a stylesheet of your making to produce a web page that can appear like your Markdown.
Pages is a word processing application and when it opens a Word document, it attempts to translate that content, including inherent styles, into the Pages internal document (.pages) format. There is no assurance that the internal Pages document will be 100% faithful to the original Word document appearance, nor do you have any control over any of the available Pages templates during translation.
Based on your original goal, Pages is not the tool you thought it was and you cannot directly, or indirectly (Pandoc) get Pages to automatically style your Markdown content. Wrong tool.
Absolutely no markdown support in Pages v10.1.
Download and use the free pandoc to convert markdown to Word .docx in the Terminal. The pkg installer will place the binary in /usr/local/bin, and the pandoc man page in /usr/local/share/man/man1. Once pandoc is installed, run the following in the Terminal application using your markdown file instead of the faux etwas.md.
/usr/local/bin/pandoc -s -f markdown -o etwas.docx etwas.md
Open the Word file in Pages.
Nobody in these forums has any info about Apple's plans, but you can ask for the feature you want via
I think at present you would need to convert your markdown to word format, which can then be opened by Pages.
Dear VikingOSX,
FYI, I have put in a request to Apple that a new feature be added to Pages: the ability to ingest Markdown files and apply the Pages Styles to the Markdown text. This request acknowledges the new realities of word-processing: the increasing role of Markdown as part of the document production process.
Best regards,
Jay
Hi VikingOSX,
Thank you for your suggestion, but the Pandoc-generated Word file opened in Pages retains its own styles. What I want is to have imported text from Word or Markdown take on the appearance of a Pages stylesheet.
Does that make sense?
Best regards,
Jay
Importing markdown files into Apple Pages
